Top Ten Attractions in Dublin

There really is something for everyone in Dublin and if this is your first visit - here is a selection of places that are well worth a visit:

The National Museum

The National Museum of Ireland was built in the 1880s and has a splendid domed rotunda, marble pillars and a zodiac mosaic floor.  It houses the Broighter gold boat and some beautiful jewellery from the Bronze Age.  The museum has and extensive collection of Bronze Age Gold, one of the finest in Western Europe, many Egyptian treasures and the Tara Brooch found at Bettystown, County Meath, dating from the 8th Century.  The Museum also houses the flag that flew over the General Post Office during the Easter Rising in 1916.

St Patrick’s Cathedral

The Cathedral was founded beside a sacred well where St Patrick is said to have baptized converts around AD 450.  The original building was a wooden chapel and was rebuilt by Archbishop John Comyn in stone in 1192.  In the mid 17th century Huguenot refugees from France arrived in Dublin and were given the Lady Chapel by the Dean and Chapter as their place of worship.  Today St Patricks is the Protestant Church of Ireland’s national cathedral.

 The interior is dotted with memorial busts, brasses and monuments.  Jonathan Swift and his beloved Stella are remembered here.

Temple Bar

The cobbled streets between Dame Street and the Liffey are named after Sir William Temple who acquired the land in the early 1600s.  The term ‘bar’ meant a riverside path.  In the 1880s it was home to small businesses but over the years went into decline.  In the early 1960s the land was bought up with plans to build a new bus station.  Artists and retailers took short term leases but stayed on when the redevelopment plans were scrapped.  Temple Bar prospered and is now an exciting place with bars, restaurants, shops and galleries.

The most dramatic way to enter Temple Bar is through the Merchants Arch opposite Ha’penny Bridge.  Temple Bar has a Bohemian feel with its many shops, galleries and restaurants.  If you like vintage clothes there are a couple of great shops and you could spend hours browsing.  Check out the Temple Bar Pub and catch some of the Bands playing traditional Irish music.

 Guinness Storehouse

The Guninness Storehouse is based in St James’s Gate Brewery, the original house of Guinness, now completely remodelled.  This 1904 listed building covers nearly 4 acres of floor space over 6 floors built around a huge pint glass atrium.  This is a must of all Guinness enthusiasts and you get a free pint at the end of the tour in the rooftop Gravity Bar.

Custom House

This majestic building was designed as the Custom House by the English architect James Gandon.  The 1800 Act of Union transferred the custom and excise business to London and rendered the building obsolete.  In 1921 supporters of Sinn Fein celebrated their election victory by setting light to what they saw as a symbol of British imperalism.  The fire blazed for five days and caused extensive damage.  Reconstruction began in 1926, but the building was not restored completely until 1991, when it reopened as government offices.

Trinity College

Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I on the site of an Augustinian monastery.  Originally a Protestant college, it was not until the 1970s that Catholics started entering the university.  Among the many famous students to attend the college were playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Beckett and political writer Edmund Burke.  The major attraction of Trinity are the Old Library and the Book of Kells, housed in the Treasury.

National Gallery

This purpose built gallery was opened to the public in 1864.  It houses many excellent exhibits, largely due to generous bequests, such as the Milltown collection of works of art from Russborough House.  Playwright George Bernard Shaw was also a benefactor, leaving a third of his estate to the gallery.  A new wing has been added to the gallery which today has more than 500 works on display.  Although the emphasis is on Irish art, the major schools of European painting are well represented.

Christ Church Cathedral

Christchurch Cathedral was commissioned in 1172 by Strongbow, Anglo-Norman conqueror of Dublin and Archbishop Laurence O’Toole.  It replaced an earlier wooden church built by the Vikings in 1038.  It is the Cathedral for the Church of Ireland (Anglican) diocese of Dublin and Glendalough.  By the 19th Century it was in a bad state of repair, but was completely remodelled by architect George Street in the 1870s.  In the crypt are monuments removed from the cathedral during its restoration.

Castletown House

Built in 1722-32 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish Parliament, Castletown was the work of Florentine architect Allessandro Galilei and gave Ireland its firs taste of  Palladianism.  The magnificent interiors date from the second half of the 18th Century.  They were commissioned by Lady Louisa Lennox, wife of William Conolly’s great nephew, Tom, who took up residence here in 1759.  Castletown remained in the family until 1965, when it was rescued by the Hon Desmond Guinness and the Irish Georgian Society.  It is now state owned and run.

Powerscourt

The gardens at Powerscourt are probably the finest in Ireland, both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of Great Sugar Loaf Mountain.  The house and grounds were commissioned in the 1730s by Richard Wingfield, the first Vicount Powerscourt.  The gardens fell into decline but, in 1840, the original scheme was revived.  New ornamental gardens were completed in 1858-75 by the seventh Viscount, who added gates, urns and statues collected during his travels on the Continent.  Gutted by accidental fire in 1974, the ground floor and the ballroom on the first floor have been renovated.